Manaphy, Suicune, and a Funny Cape
by Azure Butterfly
Summary: When Eusine sees a strange little Pokemon attacking his Suicune, he leaps into battle to save it. Unfortunately, the little Pokemon, Manaphy, has a strange power that will cause trouble for both the trainer and his beloved Suicune...
1. Chapter 1

It started off like any other day for Eusine. Wake up, wash face, and eat breakfast. Call Morty on PokéGear, ask for information on Suicune. Dash out of Pokémon center as Electrode struggles to keep up. Realize that he neglected to put on any pants in his haste. Walk all the way back Pokémon Center in Suicune-patterned boxers. Put on pants.

Search for Suicune!

Eusine had been searching for the legendary beast of the north wind ever since he was a little kid. Legends of the Water-type Pokémon had been passed down for generations in his family, and now served as fuel for the man's great quest – to claim Suicune as his own Pokémon! Of course, that hadn't really gone anywhere until he had met Morty. The Ghost-type Gym Leader was constantly getting information from a trainer named Gold about Suicune's whereabouts. You see… Gold had actually managed to find Suicune before Eusine. Whenever Eusine was about to reach the legendary beast – he could see it right ahead of him – Gold would rush out of nowhere and scare the beast away!

Needless to say, Eusine did not care for Gold much.

Today, however… Suicune would be his! Gold had told Morty who had told Eusine without knowing that Eusine didn't like Gold because he thought it was his Suicune and not Gold's Suicune that Suicune had been seen running near Vermillion City.

Needless to say, Eusine had run all the way to Goldenrod, boarded the Magnet Train, and ran from Saffron to Vermillion in all of five hours. Granted, this was possibly physically impossible, but this _was _Eusine we were talking about.

The caped man made his way to the city's shipyard, occasionally looking inside garbage cans and under trucks for any sign of Suicune. After forty minutes of fruitless searching, Eusine was about to give up when a strange red flash of light came from the direction of the sea. Without any hesitation, Eusine leapt into the water, swimming as fast as he could with his cape weighing him down. Ten seconds later, he saw them.

The beautiful Suicune stood right in front of him, majestically standing at the water's edge. However, a second being was chasing it! It was a small blue creature with red gems set into its body. A pair of antennae waved on its head. Eusine didn't know what it was, but he sure knew what it was doing.

It was looking. At. _His. __**Suicune!**_

In a maddened rage, the caped man swam over to the tiny creature, which was currently firing a Bubblebeam at his poor, terrified Suicune. The creature jumped out of the way just before he could catch up to it, shooting into his poor, innocent Suicune with a Whirlpool attack. The beast jumped out of the way the first time, but the strange creature hit it the next time.

It was giggling.

_Giggling, _as it _attacked __**his Suicune!**_

Without knowing what he was doing, Eusine jumped out of the water like an oversized Magikarp, flying at the strange blue creature. Both of the Pokémon seemed to notice him for the first time – while Suicune looked neutral to his appearance, the strange creature looked angry. Before it could fire off another attack at his innocent Suicune, Eusine leapt at the creature, sinking his teeth into its body before it could realize what had happened to it. Moments later, he was shaken off, but not before a vivid red light assaulted his eyes.

When his vision cleared, Eusine realized that the strange blue creature was nowhere in sight. He whipped his head around, suddenly realizing that not only was the creature gone, but so was _his Suicune!_ Finally, Eusine realized that his head felt rather… odd. As though there was something heavy on top of his head. This lead to him discovering that he was apparently standing on all fours, and what's more, _walking_ that way without any difficulty. He was suddenly overcome with the desire to run – not towards his Suicune or away from Morty in the early mornings – just to run around as fast as he could go and search for… something.

Then he remembered the water. With his heart pounding, Eusine trotted over to the water – and screamed in terror as soon as he saw his reflection.

_His Suicune was staring back at him!_ He blinked, and his Suicune blinked back.

_HEWASTHESUICUNEOHNOOHNOOHNO_

Eusine took a step back and tripped over his own paws.

"That's not a very flattering way for the embodiment of the north winds to be seen…" a quiet and strangely familiar voice murmured. Eusine blinked his eyes open and came face to face with… himself!

"_Aaaaah!"_ he shouted, pressing himself into the ground. His body looked rather upset.

"You shouldn't roar like that either. You'll hurt your throat." Not-Eusine fiddled around with his sodden cape, pulling on the Poké Balls around his waist. It took a good, hard look at Electrode's Poké Ball before finally selecting an ordinary Poké Ball. It suddenly seemed to remember what to do, and enlarged the Ball to full size without any difficulty. "All right then, get inside," it instructed Eusine.

The trainer in the legend's body shook his head. Unfortunately, the crystal headpiece was just as heavy as it looked, and Eusine found himself falling onto his side before long. With a little cry, he began flailing his legs like a turtle.

His body sighed. "Stop doing that! If you're stuck in my body, I'm not letting you look like an idiot!" Eusine stopped immediately. His Suicune was in his body?

…

Well, that was fine. ^_^

Without as much as flinching, Eusine got back on his feet, nosed the Ball, and allowed himself to be caught. Suicune stared at the Poké Ball for a few minutes before hooking it back onto her belt. Humans were _weird. _For one thing, there were the strange wavy things instead of forepaws. At least those were useful. This human, the one who had been chasing her for so long, also had some sort of strange wings on his back. However, they appeared to be completely useless. Oh humans.

Suicune was going to stomp Manaphy to a pulp once she got her body back.


	2. Chapter 2

It had all started with a harmless game of tag. Manaphy was a cute little guy – or so Suicune had thought. She, Kyorge, and Palkia all chased the little creature around the sea, occasional pausing to hide from incoming ships. They chased each other all around the country, sometimes one of them leaving to go work on some important task, but always returning. The game of tag was their first priority now – after all, who said that legendaries couldn't have fun?

That was, it was fun until the trouble with Manaphy started. At first, it was just simple things. He would use Heart Swap to switch minds with a different, faster Pokémon in the sea, just so he could go faster. At one point, he even tried to use his attack on Kyorge, but she managed to block the attack with a little bit of effort. However, it was obvious that the Pokémon were all weakening – except Manaphy, who would simply Heart Swap into a different form until he was completely rested. The other legends would leave his body alone, not knowing which poor sap had been forced into it, but there was no way for them to guess what form Manaphy had taken. They had to wait for him to return to his own body before they could do anything – something that took hours, enough time for the tiny Pokémon to heal himself, but not enough for the larger ones. Suicune soon found herself to be the only one capable of keeping up with the blue Pokémon. As soon as he realized this, a devilish smile crossed the Pokémon's face.

He led them on a high-speed chase all the way from the northernmost point of Sinnoh all the way to the south of Hoenn. While Kyorge was exhausted, he took the opportunity to use Heart Swap on her! For a moment, the rest of the legends thought that he had teleported into her body, but a moment later, they saw him floating above them, giggling as though he had just told a hysterical joke!

And then, Suicune realized what he had done.

He had led them right next to Mt. Chimney for a reason.

He had Heart Swapped Groudon and Kyorge.

That wasn't the end of it for the devilish Pokémon in a cute guise. He tore off towards Sinnoh again, Palkia following right behind. Suicune stayed back to rest. She knew that Palkia would only get himself and Dialga into a similar situation. As for Suicune herself… well, she was in no mood to find herself swapped into one of her brothers' bodies, or worse, into someone else's – especially Heatran or Regigigas. There was no way that she would be able to handle being so big and so… hot, or slow.

The next day, she dashed across the sea with renewed energy, a plan working its way into her mind. If she went back to Johto, she could get the help of that powerful trainer – Gold, she thought – and he would be able to fight Manaphy and capture him in one of those tools that people used to carry Pokémon. It was a brilliant plan – that was, until Suicune realized that she had no idea of where she could find Gold. For a moment, she considered looking for another powerful trainer, but that idea was shot down quickly. None of them were guaranteed to be as nice as Gold…

Which is how she came to be in Vermillion City.

There was a shipyard there – Suicune was well versed in the ways that humans transported goods with the use of their huge boats – and that was where trainers from Johto would usually enter Kanto. If Gold were going to be coming to Kanto, this would be where he arrived! Well, or so she hoped.

Everything seemed to be fine, until Suicune padded over to the east side of the city. There, she found a nice little grassy section of land overlooking the water, and settled down to rest. However, when she woke up, she came face-to face with a familiar blue creature. Manaphy had followed her all the way to Kanto!

Suicune leapt at Manaphy, but the little Pokémon giggled and started to throw Whirlpools at her. In a last ditch attempt to finish Manaphy off before he could do any more damage, Suicune began to charge up power for a Surf, planning on washing Manaphy onto the land. He might have some trouble attacking if he was landlocked! No sooner had Suicune started her brilliant plan than something jumped out of the water and tackled Manaphy! Temporarily stunned, she stopped the attack and tried to make out Manaphy's attacker.

…

…

… oh no.

It was _him._

There was no mistaking it. It was the human that constantly stalked her, chasing her wherever she meant. It was the human that couldn't take a hint and refused to accept that Suicune would much rather have Gold as her trainer than him. It was the guy with the funny cape and the weird hair.

It was the guy who… was biting Manaphy's head?

The tiny blue Pokémon cried and flailed about as he tried to shake off the offending human. Suicune watched, bemused – she had never seen a human attack before – as Manaphy finally managed to throw off the human onto the land. Well, that could only last so long.

Manaphy's antennae began to glow. In a last ditch attempt, Suicune jumped at him, but as soon as she was in the air, a bright red light flashed through the clearing. When it cleared, Manaphy was gone – and Suicune had been trapped in the human's body!

Growling, she pulled herself into a sitting position and looked around the clearing frantically. She couldn't help but notice that the funny 'clothes' humans insisted upon wearing were quite uncomfortable when they got wet.

Suicune heard a roar from the water, and sighed. Sure enough, when she turned to look, there was the human, stuck in _her_ body. She was really going to tear Manaphy into itty bitty pieces.

After she had caught the human successfully, Suicune made her way to the Pokémon Center, with a little bit of difficulty. Who would have thought that humans were so slow? It was going to take her ages to get anywhere!

As she walked through the city in soaking wet clothes, only thing was on her mind. Well, technically two. Find Gold. Get Gold's help.

Then rip Manaphy into bite-sized pieces.


	3. Chapter 3

Gold, Gold… where would Gold be? And even if she found him, what would she say? He wouldn't believe that she was really Suicune. Did Gold even know who Manaphy was? Probably not, unless he had gone to Sinnoh sometime. Had he gone to Sinnoh? Most likely no, considering the fact that there were rumors that he'd been training for some huge battle recently. Against whom? Suicune had no idea.

Thinking about the things she didn't know was annoying, so she focused on the things she did know. Number one: she was Heart Swapped with that huge dork that insisted upon following her everywhere. Number two: Manaphy's Heart Swap would wear off on its own, but who knew how long it would take. Usually, it lasted the least amount of time for most Pokémon, a slightly longer time for humans, but for legendary Pokémon, it could last a very long time – years, even. Suicune was in no mood to be stuck in the dork's body for that long. Number three: Gold was a powerful trainer. He could capture Manaphy for them and force it to change them back to normal.

Number four. Humans were very, very noisy.

Throughout her walk to the Pokémon Center, Suicune observed humans shouting out greetings to each other even though they were all of two feet apart. Was she supposed to do the same in conversation? She really wanted her body back.

She found the Pokémon Center without too much difficulty – it was hard to miss the enormous red building. Once she got there, however, there was a bit of a problem. There was no visible handle on the door – nothing to pull, nothing to push. Humans always used those, so what was she supposed to do? She sat down on a nearby bench and glared at that door for several minutes, stewing over the fact that she wouldn't be able to get inside the building in the first place. If she didn't get into the building, the dork in her body would still be weak from all of the battling that Suicune herself had done against Manaphy. If the dork was weak, then she wouldn't have anyone to carry her across Kanto and Johto to look for Gold. If she didn't find Gold, then what else could she possibly do?

Just then, a human walked past her, walked straight up to the enigmatic door, and it slid open without the slightest hesitation.

Suicune swore with all of the might she could, attracting some rather strange looks from the humans milling about the city. What was up with humans? Hadn't they ever heard someone say "Kyorge's fin!" before? Well, they were humans, after all… maybe they hadn't.

Shoving back her hatred of all things human, Suicune walked up to the smug door and forced it to open. As the sliding glass doors parted, she stuck out her tongue at them. Who's in charge now, doors?

Inside, it was surprisingly quiet. The only sounds were the beeping of the weird things in the back of the building and the chatter of the humans in the room. Trainers, most likely. They were all around twelve or thirteen, and a few small Pokémon, namely Raticate and Pidgeotto, were happily perched on chairs of their own near the humans' circle. The building itself was rather dull. The tiles on the floor were cream, red, and grey, while the lights hanging down from the ceiling were all glowing faintly in a boring shade of orange. Who put orange lights into a building anyway? Even Suicune, with her limited sense of human fashion, knew that orange was a rather terrible color to light a room with.

At the far end of the room, a cheerful human and a pink Pokémon sat down behind a counter. The human had loopy pink hair and a funny hat. The Pokémon was a Chansey with paint smeared all over its body. Suicune wisely decided to accept that fact, as the story behind it would probably be less than charming. Besides those two, a huge, grey machine also sat behind the counter, beeping happily. Suicune deducted that it must be some sort of medical machine, but how to get about healing her body…

She gathered up all of her courage and walked over to the two pink-clad women.

"Hello, and welcome to the Pokémon Center!" the human chirped happily.

"Urm… HELLO," Suicune boomed. "I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE THIS POKÉMON HEALED."

The nurse gave her a strange look. "Would… would you like to have the others healed as well?" she asked timidly. Suicune stared at her blankly for a moment before remembering the dork's other Pokémon. They were still in their balls, and the balls were attached to the human's clothing somehow.

"DO I TAKE THEM OUT OF THE BALLS?" Suicune questioned.

"No, you can leave them in them… actually, that's how the machine works, it heals them while they're still inside.

Suicune grabbed the ball containing her body and attempted to pull it off of her clothing. No luck. What was it attached to, anyway? There was the bottom portion of the human's "clothes," but the ball wasn't attached to that. It was attached to a separate thing, a brown strap of some sort. Suicune took a closer look at the strap and noticed that it had little clips holding the balls in place, and a tiny, barely noticeable button on top of the clasp. As she pressed down on the miniscule button, the clasp let go and the ball fell towards the ground. Suicune dived to save it before it could accidentally release her body and cause an uproar. She knew enough about humans to know that they would go absolutely nuts at the sight of a legendary Pokémon.

Suicune carefully continued this process until all of the Pokémon were safely in the machine. It hummed for a moment and then binged happily. The nurse grabbed the Poké Balls and practically threw them into Suicune's arms. "Have a nice day, bye, hope to see you again, well not like that but-"

Suicune left before the nurse could go any farther. She thought that it might be for the best if she tried searching outside of big cities for the time being.


	4. Chapter 4

"_So, let me get this straight."_ Eusine clawed at the ground irritably. Sitting across from him on a rather large rock, Suicune was looking over a map of Kanto.

"_First of all, this whole thing started because you were playing tag with Manaphy."_

"_Evil_ tag!" Suicune insisted. "It was all just a ploy!"

"_Manaphy has a move called Heart Swap, which causes the victims to switch bodies like we did."_

"Yeah, pretty much. I forgot to mention it the first time, but it also allows Manaphy to swap his own body with someone else's. He did it all the time to cause trouble."

"_Manaphy used this technique to swap the bodies of most of the Water-type legendary Pokémon with those of their arch rivals."_

"Yep."

"_And, finally, this move will eventually wear off, but it could take a year."_

"Yep again. The only way to make it go faster is to force Manaphy to use the move again and void the first time. The only problem is that he could be anywhere, and we'd need someone powerful to capture him."

Eusine's head perked up. _"Hey! Couldn't we ask a Gym Leader? I'd bet that Morty would be able to help out with capturing him. He uses Ghost-types, and they're really good for capturing Pokémon, so-"_

"No good," Suicune sighed.

"_What do you mean? Morty's Pokémon are all at level sixty by now! He could easily take Manaphy on!"_

"Manaphy is level one hundred. We've all had years to train."

For a few moments, there was silence. Then Eusine jumped to his feet.

"_Am I level one hundred too?"_

"No duh."

While Eusine was celebrating this newfound strength, Suicune fiddled around with his PokéGear. It had Internet access? Niiiice. The Water-type legendary had heard of Internet before – it was some huge thing that sent information through tubes and contained almost all of humanity's knowledge. If she could figure out how to use it, she could find Gold! Surely, someone must know where he was!

After a few minutes of pressing buttons at random, Suicune eventually got the idea and began to search the web for any information about Gold. The only things that came up, however, were jewelry sales, encyclopedia pages, and some sort of fruit juice. Maybe she could put in Gold's full name. After all, most humans had somewhere between two or four names. What was his full name though? He had never mentioned it before. Maybe, in one of their chance encounters, he was about to tell her. Maybe he felt the urge to give his full name to Suicune and her majestic beauty, maybe it was on the tip of his tongue. Then the Dork would come, flailing his arms around and brandishing a Poké Ball and she would have to dart away before he could try anything.

Now the Dork was parading around in her body.

What had she done to deserve this, exactly? Had she committed some terrible time in her past life? Was she the one who had caused the Brass Tower to burn? Had she been an evil Pokémon that ran around setting everyone on fire and hadn't been stopped until Arceus himself came down and smote her? Had Ho-oh revived her because she was an evil pyromaniac?

… okay, maybe none of that was likely. But still! She was stuck in the body of the person who had single-handedly driven her nuts for years. She had these weird tentacle things in place of paws, no fur on her body except for the part on her head, and she was force to walk on two legs alone. Meanwhile, the Dork was running amuck with her body and appeared as though he were going to destroy it if he was left alone with it for more than ten minutes. As she watched in terror, he fell to the ground and began rolling in the mud. Thankfully, her body's powers kicked in and the mud turned into clear, clean water the moment he touched it. Unfortunately, he didn't appear to be close to stopping.

Suicune found herself torn between two possible choices. Did she let the idiot continue to run around and risk having her body injured? Or did she stop him right now, a task that would almost certainly mean causing physical harm to her poor, innocent body. Of course, she could try returning him to that accursed ball, but she really did not like using it. Why did humans have to make everything so complex?

By this point, Eusine in Suicune's body was rolling around in some grass. Suicune decided that the worst he could do there was get grass stains on her fur, and those weren't too hard to wash out. Trying desperately to ignore the buffoon, she fiddled around with the PokéGear a bit more.

You know, it wasn't just the fact that Gold apparently didn't have a last name. Who in the world would name their kid Gold in the first place? It was just… urgh. Humans. What would possibly drive them to name their offspring after precious metals? If Suicune was able to have children, she would name them perfectly sensible things such as Suicune Jr. or Suicune the II. Now that she thought of it, why couldn't humans just respond to "Human" like Pokémon did? It would make things much easier.

Finally, on a whim, Suicune punched in something new.

"Pokémon Trainer Gold"

A picture of the boy appeared immediately, along with a log of his adventures. He had just finished his journey through Kanto, having received the last "budge." Whatever that was, it meant that he was allowed access to a special area in between Kanto and Johto – somewhere called "Mt. Silver." Hmmm…

"Hey! You!" Eusine stopped rolling around at long last and turned to look her way. "We're going to Mt. Silver!"

"_Where?"_ the human asked in his annoying human way.

Suicune grinned. "A mountain blocked off to the public. The only way to get there is to get "budges" – or to sneak in."

"_So you're going to sneak in?"_

"Oh no. I'm not doing anything. You'll be the one doing the dirty work." Suicune gathered up the human's stuff, walked over to her body, and hopped on. The Dork gasped and buckled a bit, but recovered enough for her to grab onto his neck. "Prepare to go mountain climbing," Suicune sang.


	5. Chapter 5

"_I don't like your style," _Eusine grunted as he hefted Suicune up the mountain. _"Why couldn't we just wait it out, I'm sure it would wear off soon…"_

"I _told _you, one hundred years! I'm a Legendary Pokémon; it's not like my life flashes by in an instant like yours does. I'll be _dead_ from your body before it wears off, and then you'll be stuck in mine forever. Humph. I'll bet you'd like that, wouldn't you? All humans are alike. Annoying. Well let me tell you something Mr. Human. _I'm _going to get my body back, if I have to chuck yours into a volcano!"

Eusine had grown up listening to tales of the heroic Suicune. It purified dirty water and made it safe for the little Pokémon and the people in the villages of olden days to drink. It darted across the land, racing to contain its enormous power. (Well… Suicune did say that she was level one hundred. That _was_ about as powerful as a Pokémon could get under normal circumstances.) Suicune had two siblings – Raikou and Entei. The three of them had perished in a fire at Ecruteak City, but they had been revived by Ho-oh. The fire had been started by a thunderbolt, but put out by the rain. All three of the Legendary Beasts were incarnations of the forces in play on that night – the thunderbolt, the fire, the rain. Suicune was the gentle one, the calm one. She was the most important out of the three, or so the legends stated.

None of the legends had ever mentioned how rude Suicune was.

"Stop getting my fur so filthy! Do you have any grace at all? Probably not, considering the fact that you're a _human. _Humans are never good at anything. That's why they rely on Pokémon so much. Humans can't control fire or electricity or water-"

"_Can too!" _Eusine protested. _"What exactly do you think generators are, huh? We _burn _things or build dams and let the _water _through and then it turns a magnet and makes _electricity. _We're perfectly capable! The only reason we capture Pokémon is because of the fact that all of you guys are so wild and crazy that you can't be trusted to run amuck!"_

Suicune snorted. "Too wild? You humans are just afraid because you wouldn't stand a chance out in the wild. There are things waiting to eat you around every corner. One wrong move, and you're _dinner. _If a human was allowed to live out in the wild, they wouldn't stand a chance!"

"_Oh yeah?"_ Eusine retorted. "_Well, if that's the case, then how did our ancestors survive? The first humans didn't have the means to capture Pokémon, so they'd live all by themselves and hunt for their own food!"_

Suicune cackled. "Alone? Please. I might not be old enough to remember any of the first humans–"

"_Ha!"_ Eusine laughed triumphantly.

"Hey! But, I have Ho-oh to tell me everything about them that I could have ever needed to know. All of that jazz about humans evolving from a kind of Pokémon is a bunch of fairy tales made up by little weakling humans like yourself. Humans didn't ever live out in the wild! Humans came from outer space!"

Eusine came to a screeching halt, almost sending Suicune into the side of the mountain. _"What?" _he screamed.

"Hey, watch it, pretty boy! You almost smashed both of us into the mountain! It's one thing to try and destroy my own pretty face, but when you start trying to slam your own body into solid rock while I'm still in it, then you're just being malicious!"

Eusine recovered and started back on his journey up the side of the mountain. They were nearly to Mt. Silver's peak now. "_What was that comment about humans?"_ he growled.

"They're smelly? Stupid? Ugly? Fat? Useless?"

"_No!" _

"Hey, your pick out of five… oh wait, that's all of them!" Suicune laughed at her terrible joke.

"_Before that! What were you saying about humans coming from space?"_

"Oh, that." Suicune leaned back on Eusine's back and pulled off a sprig of mint from a passing plant. She put this in her mouth, put her heads behind her head, and continued. "Humans were not from this planet originally. They actually came from much earlier – as a species, they came into the universe much, much earlier than this entire world did." As Suicune spoke, the sprig of mint in her mouth waved back and forth, giving a somewhat comical appearance. "Humans lived on another planet that they called Earth. They pumped it full of garbage and pollutants until it was no longer safe to live there. There were no Pokémon on that world – we hadn't even appeared yet. No. There were only these other weird creatures – "animals." They looked like Pokémon, only they were about as remarkable as humans. You know how some humans still stupidly insist upon calling Growlithe and Houndour "dog" Pokémon? Well, a "dog" was one of the creatures from that other world, but it could only make sound, eat, sleep, and poo. It couldn't breathe fire. It couldn't run any faster than a human. It couldn't even take a small attack without becoming seriously injured. So, these "animals" were so weak, when the humans polluted their world, they all died off. Only the humans were left."

Eusine made an attempt to look like he wasn't interested. It failed. They were at the top of the mountain now, but the absolute peak – the mesa in the center – was still a few miles away. It was a perfectly straight stretch though, so it looked like it would be a lot easier.

"So, the humans were all alone," Suicune continued in a mocking manner. "They had nothing left on their world – no animals, and no plants in the wild. So they came into space and drifted around a bit until they found our world. Arceus found them and took pity on them. He had Mew decide what to do with them, and they let the humans take Pokémon form if they wanted to. But they were foolish and greedy, so eventually everyone had to choose between one form or the other. Pokémon were still allowed to evolve, of course, but humans were stuck, unchanging, forever." Suicune laughed loudly.

"Until, of course, some little blue punk comes along and Heart Swaps them with some poor girl, huh?"


	6. Chapter 6

"_You're really not pleasant, you know that?" _Eusine snapped. _"I'm beginning to think that all of the legends about you – the way that you help Pokémon and people alike and are a great bringer of peace and all that jazz – is just a bunch of lies started by some poor saps who saw you and thought that something that pretty must be good. But you're _not _that good. You're like a rosebush – you look beautiful, but when someone tries to reach out and touch you, show you some kindness, you stab them with your thorns!"_

Suicune laughed. It wasn't a pretty laugh, really – it was the laugh of someone who had endured far too much in a way short time. "Sounds nice, stabbing them. Serves them right for trying to touch me in the first place. I mean, what were they looking to do, pick me? Well, I'll have you know, anyone who tries to pick _me _is going to be worse than stabbed. They'll be lying at the bottom of a riverbed somewhere!"

Eusine had had enough.

He shook himself off, sending Suicune hurtling towards the ground. Her shout of surprise was cut off abruptly as Eusine planted a paw square on her chest, knocking the wind out of her.

"Hey!" she choked out. "What's wrong with you? Nothing better to do than attack an innocent girl?"

"_Innocent my fluffy blue bum,"_ Eusine snapped. _"You seem to have forgotten that you are the one in the so called 'pathetic' human body. You are completely at my mercy – do you realize that? If I wanted to, I could chuck you off the edge of the mountain and no one would ever know that you were gone. They would just think that I was you, and that the strange human who always followed you around had gone away to some far off country! How would you like that, huh? I bet falling off the side of the cliff would be more terrifying than the actual impact!"_

Suicune shuddered. Eusine picked up his paw and let her stumble into a sitting position. She wrapped her arms around her body.

She had tears in her eyes.

"_You don't like this entire thing because you feel weak, is that it?"_

Suicune hissed at him. "Shut up, human. You may look like me, but deep down, you still flinch at the slightest sign of conflict. I know your type. You try to hide your weakness but it still peaks out!"

Eusine laughed, but it wasn't a cruel laugh. It was a broken laugh, the laugh of someone who had endured far too much in a way short time. _"I used to admire you," _he told her. _"I chased you around the four corners of Kanto and Johto – not because I was insane – although that may be part of it. I chased you because I wanted to see the subject of legends, the stuff of my dreams. My family had preserved legends of the legendary beasts for generations, but none of the tales I heard compared to the tales of Suicune. Entei was just fine – causing volcanoes to erupt with his roar, and returning unharmed from any injury when a volcano erupted on its own. Raikou was powerful – causing thunderstorms, and protecting Electric-types and those who loved them. Both of them were incredible, but they were nothing compared to the third._

"_She was beautiful – a lady. Of course, many legends claimed that all of the beasts were male, but I knew that couldn't be true. Why would a gentleman be so beautiful and gentle?"_

Suicune snarled under her breath, something about Eusine being a sexist, moronic sap that needed to lay off the crappy romance novels. The man didn't seem to hear, as he was too deep in his ranting.

"_No, Suicune was a lady – and I would find her. I would make her my own – keep her in a huge palace, with the softest beds… but even then, I knew that wouldn't be enough for her. So I would let her run free, go wherever she desired, as long as she would come back to me…"_

Suicune snorted.

"…_not that she ever would, I see that now. You aren't kind, like the legends say. Why? Because the legends were written by a bunch of love struck morons, that's why. They wouldn't see your personality – only your skills and beauty. Look at Suicune purify the water – how gentle it must be. Hah! Water-types are always claimed as being gentle and pure. Why are you so loved compared to Raikou or Entei? Because they are always seen as being wild and untamable. Rapid thunder, burning fire – the incredible forces of nature! But you… you were supposed to be rain. Kind, innocent, never killing anyone. But you're not rain. You're a tidal wave that destroys all in its path, mercilessly killing those who you find weaker than yourself. Water isn't a peaceful element. It's a violent, malicious element that cannot be trusted…"_

Suicune snorted once again. Eusine glared at her.

"_I'll help you get your body back, all right. I'll be back in my own body, and then you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to hunt you down. I won't rest until your pelt is a rug on my living room floor! Because you are the most terrible, evil Pokémon I have ever seen!"_

Suicune ignored him. She picked herself up, got onto her feet, and started to walk to the not so faraway mesa. She didn't even bother to look back at Eusine. She just kept walking, ignoring him.

He ignored her too.

From the clouds above, two enormous beings watched.

"_Rather funny, the whole thing,"_ the first one claimed. It was an enormous white creature with huge wings – a dragon with wings in place of hands. A wyvern – Lugia.

"_Easy enough for you to say _now._ Just wait until Zapdos falls in love with a human girl. Then you'll understand!" _This was a tremendous bird with multicolored wings – Ho-oh.

Lugia chuckled. _"I suppose I will, won't I?"_

The two looked down at the duo. They were still making their way to the mesa.

"_They're hopelessly in love, aren't they? They just don't understand it."_

Ho-oh didn't answer. She just shook her head and laughed quietly to herself.


	7. Chapter 7

The duo eventually met back up at the base of the mesa, seeing as how they didn't have much of a choice otherwise. There's really not much you can do when someone else is in your body and you're in theirs other than to follow them around for a while until you figure out how to change back. The climb up the rather steep slope of the mesa at the top of Mt. Silver that followed was silent and tense, as the two supposed enemies made their way up to the pinnacle of the mountain that rose up into the skies of the Johto and Kanto regions.

"Gold should be around here," Suicune finally growled when the two of them reached the top of the mesa at long last. Eusine was still panting at the side of the mesa, despite being in the body of a level one hundred legendary Pokémon. "Stop lounging around and make yourself useful!" Suicune snapped at him. We need to find Gold or else I'll never get my old body back!"

Eusine snarled at her. "_That would certainly be unfortunate – for you, at least. If you haven't noticed, I'm still in your body, and therefore have the ability to run across water, purify water, and perform a variety of other attacks… In fact, I would go as far as to say that you're the only one who should be worried about getting her body back. Maybe I'll just run off here and now and leave you on your own like you want…"_

"Do it and I'll hunt you down and wear your pelt as a jacket."

"_Good luck with that."_

"You are really pushing it, I'll have you know!"

"_Oh no, I'm so scared of the legendary Pokémon – oh wait, I am the legendary Pokémon, and you're just a human with the mind of a Pokémon. I wonder who would win."_

"The one that still has their legs – which, after I'm doing with you, would almost certainly be me!"

The two were so involved in their fight, they hardly noticed the red-clothed youth walk over to them and sit down on a nearby rock, watching the whole thing intently. A red hat was pulled down over his eyes, shrouding his face in shadow. Despite the fact that the mesa had a fine layer of snow covering the ground and more was trickling down from the clouds ahead, he did not wear a coat of any kind – just a thin red jacket over a white shirt. His hair was black, but gave off a brown sheen when light hit it.

He was, most certainly, not Gold. The two fighting lovers could have given you that much. Gold was a few years younger, and always had a mischievous smile. This boy just had a sad sort of half frown and eyes that never quite met yours. He was, in some way, the exact opposite of Gold. This, logically, meant that when the two looked over to see this strange newcomer staring at them like some sort of ghost, they both stopped arguing and jumped a foot into the air.

"_Who are you?" _Eusine growled, getting his confidence back more quickly than Suicune.

"…"

"Say something!" Suicune added.

"…"

"_It's no good… the kid's not going to say a word. Little weirdo."_

"… that's not a very nice thing to say, you know." The boy jumped off the rock he was sitting on and landed in front of the duo with the agility of a Pokémon. His hat was pushed up farther on his head in the process, revealing his eyes. They were a deep crimson, not quite the glowing red expected of villains, but the sort of red that carried a deep sadness to it.

"_You… you can understand me?"_

The boy hesitated before nodding. "Yes. Don't ask any more than that. I know what's happened to you. I heard you arguing, and some friends of mine came and told me the entire story. I can help you, but don't ask a bunch of questions. I won't answer you…"

"Weirdo," Suicune growled in annoyance. She must have thought she was being quiet, but she obviously wasn't, because the boy's eyes flashed in annoyance.

"My name is Red, so stop calling me insulting names."

Suicune snorted. More idiots named after colors? Great. Humans…

"You won't find Gold here. I know you've been looking for him, but he's gone now. He came to battle me, but lost. He left and went to Pallet Town in order to tell my mom that he found me. He's coming back soon, so I need to leave. I can't let my mom find me here. Not like this… No! No more! I'm not going to tell you anymore!" The boy growled in a rather strange manner. "Just… just come over here. There's someone you should meet. He'll help you."

Red walked right past the two, to the edge of the mesa. Just when it seemed like he was going to walk off the edge, a bright light shot down from the sky and streaked down to the edge of the mesa. A huge, golden staircase appeared leading up to the heavens appeared in front of the young boy. Without another word, he started up the stairs. After a moment's hesitation, the two darted up after him.


	8. Chapter 8

As they descended up the staircase, Eusine swore that he must be in a dream. For starters, he was in the body of his Suicune, and she was in his own body. Then, they climbed up a tremendous mountain to find an incredibly strange boy with glowing red eyes waiting for them. Finally, a staircase made out of golden light appeared, allowing them to climb up into the clouds. From what he remembered of his science lessons, Eusine knew that you should not be able to climb on light as though it were solid. In addition to that, you shouldn't be able to climb up into the clouds without freezing, running out of oxygen, or a myriad of other unpleasant things befalling you.

Suicune kept a hand on his back, her expression unreadable. For a moment, it looked like she was about to say something to him, then thought the better of it and kept her mouth shut. There was something in her eyes that made it seem like she knew something that he didn't, but Eusine was afraid of what she might do if he asked her anything. She was the type who would feel no regrets about chucking him over the side of the staircase if he annoyed her at the present time.

Red was waiting for them a little ways ahead. "Hurry up!" he called out. "You two need to hurry or else the gates will close and we'll be locked out all night. And, if that wasn't bad enough to begin with, time flows strangely around here, so we could actually be waiting for years!"

Eusine finally realized something. _"The way you're talking…" _he started, unsure of how to phrase it.

"You keep slipping into Pokémon speech." Suicune completed his thoughts. "I didn't notice at first, because I somehow kept the ability to hear even with this dumb body. But, it's starting to wear on me – it's becoming harder for me to hear the voices of all the Pokémon around me, save this moron." She gestured at Eusine, causing the hair on his neck to stand up in annoyance. "I realized that you kept inserting words in Pokémon speech when you just called out to us here. You started to growl, almost…"

Red's eyes literally flashed. "Yes. That is not for you to worry about though. You two have problems of your own that are far more pressing. Arceus himself demanded to see you."

"Aha!" Suicune suddenly shouting, her grip on Eusine's back tightening uncomfortably in the process. "I knew it! One of the others must have complained to Arceus, so maybe he's going to change us back to normal now, huh? All of us… I wonder who told him? Probably Dialga or Palkia, they're his favorites…"

"The Lake Pixies did, actually. They were supposed to be keeping an eye on Manaphy, but he snuck away while Azelf and Uxie were arguing and Mesprit was out trying to find something that the little rat had hidden somewhere. He managed to Heart Swap Azelf and Uxie, but they managed to switch back on their own using their powers – they are, after all, tied to the spirit, so something like that would be easy for them to fix on a small scale. Unfortunately, the others will need a lot more power, including you. Human to Pokémon switches and the like are normally banned from being cast by legendaries unless they're meant to be permanent. Most of the time Mew can fix them, but there are still a few glitches they need to patch out…"

"So, wait a minute," Suicune broke in. "Manaphy switched Azelf and Uxie, but they were able to switch back with their own powers. However, they're too wimpy to help anyone else, so until further notice, I'm stuck in this dweeb's body?"

"_I'm not a dweeb!" _Eusine roared in an attempt to sound intimidating. It failed, as the sudden loud noise made his throat hurt and he started to cough. Suicune chuckled at his misfortune, but Red continued on as though the two's constant bickering was unknown to him.

"Most of the legendaries affected are much stronger than the Lake Pixies. Under normal circumstances, you wouldn't be a problem to change back either, but that would be if you were switched with another Pokémon. Now that you're in a human body, the whole thing becomes nearly impossible for anyone to sort out, even Arceus."

Suicune hissed. "Arceus can go bugger off. Big baby never does anything useful anyway. Where exactly is Mew? She's the go-to gal for these sorts of things. Isn't her hobby going around and turning people into Pokémon to teach them a lesson of some sort? Why can't she do anything?"

Red chuckled. "Oh, trust me, I know exactly what you mean. She was the one to…" His voice trailed off. "Never mind, not important. But yes, she would be able to change _you_ back, Suicune… but Eusine here? He's far worse off."

"_What is that supposed to mean?" _he yipped.

"Like I said," Red told him, "once a human is turned into a Pokémon, it becomes much harder for them to be changed back. Something about the way this world is programmed. Arceus is powerful, sure, but he's not the supreme creator of the universe. All the humans claim that he was the first ever Pokémon, but they're humans. They normally don't speak with Arceus, even though he's their representative up in the legendaries' court. No – it goes like this. Arceus is the ruler of man – he oversees them and makes sure that they don't destroy the world or themselves."

"Mew is the guardian of Pokémon. She ensures that their habitat is keep intact, and that humans and Pokémon are able to understand each other and their purpose," Suicune cut in. "The rest of us legendaries are supposed to take care of other things. Ho-oh, my master, and Lugia are supposed to ensure that everything goes in a natural cycle – the seasons and such. Dialga and Palkia oversee time and space and fix rips. Giratina… well, he's sort of a loner, but he seems to help those two out in a way. Groudon and Kyorge, when they're not fighting, actually help each other out to make sure that the weather is working properly – with Rayquaza's help, of course."

"And so on and suchforth," Red cut in. "There's too many legends to talk about now. But that's the way things are supposed to go. Mew should be the one to help you, but even she isn't sure of what to do. Until we find Manaphy, things are going to be very, _very_ tricky…"


End file.
